Blackout
by thegoblinjester
Summary: A world meeting goes awry when a mysterious power-out occurs. My first attempt at horror. May contain a bit of UsUk and DenNor. Rated for a bit of language.


"Welcome everyone! At today's meeting, hosted by yours truly, we're gonna discuss why I was not let in the Avengers and-"

"I don't see why _you_ have to head the meeting, even if you _are _hosting, which, by the way, you are doing a terrible job at. Plus, the point of these meetings is _not _to moan about why we don't have superpowers, but to solve worldwide problems."

"Aw, way to be a party pooper! Besides, last time you hosted, all you wanted to talk about was Harry Potter!"

"The final book came out the day after! Can you blame me for being excited?"

"You two seem stressed. Luckily for you, I know a _magnifique _way to cure what ails you~"

"I suggest you all, like, take a chill pill and eat some goodies. Liet, am I right or am I right?"

"Uh... _why _are you wearing a tank top at a formal meeting?"

"Ah, just like every meeting. They fight, and I sit back and smile and plan their gruesome, bloody deaths~"

"Would you all just shut up? I brought a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Switzerland-san, how did you sneak that past security?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Canada!"

"You western countries are so weird! Would any one like a snack from my home country?"

"For the last time, I will not call you 'big brother' when all the other countries are around!"

"Wasn't it nice of the receptionist to order us pizza, fratello?"

"Whatever, I- hey, get off of me, tomato bastard!"

"I don't understand why you call me that, Lovi. You like tomatoes just as much as I do! By the way, can I have some of that pizza?"

"Would everyone kindly shut up so we can GET ON WITH OUR MEETING?!"

"Lighten up, bruder! It's not awesome to be so uptight all the time."

Greece was the only one who didn't give his input, as he was sleeping. It was yet another unproductive world meeting, and everything was going as it usually did. That is to say, nothing was going and what was gone never came back. It was late summer in America, and the meeting hall was sweltering. A few countries were smart and dressed lightly, but the majority were wearing suits and ties. The ones from below the equator, or high up north, suffered the most. There were sodas being offered in the lobby, but they lost their appeal after the fifth can or so. The air conditioning system was broken, and the heat made everyone even more irritable than normal.

"Good lord, America! This heat wave has gotten out of control!" Britain exclaimed, trying to remain gentlemanly while fanning himself with a pamphlet.

"Ha ha ha! I barely even noticed! The hero pays no mind to simple heat extremes!" laughed America, chugging down yet another root beer. He was the only one who wasn't sick of carbonated beverages, and the ground around his chair was littered with soda cans.

"Next time we're due for a meeting in the summer, how about one of us Scandinavian countries plays host?" Denmark asked.

Germany slammed a hand down on the table. "LISTEN UP! I know we're all exhausted from the heat, but that shouldn't stop us from continuing our meeting as planned! Now quit bickering and complaining so we can try to be _productive_ for once!"

All the other countries reluctantly agreed. They knew that the sooner the meeting was over, the sooner they'd be able to get to their air-conditioned(or just plain frigid) homes. Germany, pleased with the sheepish consent, went on to discuss the usual boring stuff. Some of the countries just fooled around or doodled on paper, and others were checking their Facebook. Only a few were actually interested in the meeting, and those few usually ended up arguing.

The conference dragged on until late afternoon, when they had all run out of topics to discuss and the receptionist had run out of soda. Everyone was grumpy and restless, and yearning to go home. America had the pleasure of ending the meeting, but he had quickly sped into the adjacent bathroom, so they all had to wait for him to return.

"Ah, that's better. Now, where was I? Oh yeah! All in favor of ending the meeting, say 'aye'"

There was a whole chorus of 'ayes', varying in tone, accent, urgency and timing. It wasn't exactly a pleasant sound.

"All opposed?"

Silence.

"Any abstentions?"

More silence.

"Any discussion?"

"End the bloody meeting already!" Britain shouted.

"Alright, alright!" America said, holding up his hands in a gesture of truce. "Meeting adjourned!"

_*Click!*_

"What the-"

It was dark. Darker than it should have been. The countries couldn't even see their hands in front of their faces. Not thinking much of it, a few nations took out their phones to use as a light source, but even with that, they could still see nothing. If it was a normal, human meeting, they probably would've just sat around and maybe called an electrician, but since they were countries, chaos ensued.

"Aaiyah! How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"Who the hell's touching me?"

"This is right out of that horror movie I watched last night! Oh gawd, ghosts are gonna eat our souls and that's totally _not_ cool!"

"I am not liking this darkness- ooh, maybe I am~"

"Get the hell off of me, bastard!"

"I'm scared, Germany!"

"Just stay put, Italy, and wait for the lights to come on."

"Hey, I think the air conditioning's working again!"

Sure enough, the temperature in the room was beginning to feel tolerable. That really didn't solve any problems, however,

"I think I just stepped on one of your soda cans, America."

"Maple! Who just bumped into me?"

"Did somebody just say something?"

"Brother? Where are you?"

"Austria, is this you?"

"No, I'm over here."

"Geez, it's getting cold..."

The air grew chillier. Not the snowy kind of chilly, either. This chill was hollow and unnerving, and there was a short silence as everyone experienced it all at once. Even Russia shivered. Then everyone started talking again, but with added urgency and, occasionally, fear. A couple nations huddled together, then realized what they were doing and pushed each other away in mild disgust.

Britain got to his feet. He was sick of the dark and cold, and he fully intended to get up and _do_ something about it. Muttering the incantation to pull forth a steady light, he felt his way around the room, not exactly sure where he was going or why. The odd thing was, even though he didn't _see_ anyone by the light of his wand, he ran into plenty of people. The _odder _thing was how they acted.

Someone kicked him. Another person shook his hand. Two people tugged on his sleeve, yet when he tried to talk to them, they instantly let go. Someone who might have been Seychelles playfully ruffled his his hair. The scariest thing that happened was when someone with small hands tried to strangle him.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he ran into another light source. Norway had also conjured up a steady glow, and had been wandering through the chaos like Britain. They only caught sight of each other when their lights intersected, which was when they were about a meter apart.

"Norway! I'm so glad to see you." Britain said.

"Likewise. I think this power-out is getting to people." said Norway.

"I know. I think I bumped into France twice, and didn't get molested!"

"Wow." Norway said, though he was obviously not wowed. "What do you think is the cause of all this?"

"Something dark, no doubt." the Brit replied. "And most likely out to cause mayhem, at the very least."

Just then, a third figure appeared next to Norway, eyes glowing red. The Brit and the Norwegian jumped in alarm, then relaxed when they realized that it was Romania.

"Glad I found you two! Any idea what's going on?" he asked. They shook their heads. "Honestly, it's starting to freak me out a bit..." the maybe-vampire said.

They all stood in silence for a moment, pondering the recent events. Britain looked intensely serious, Romania was smiling nervously and Norway looked apathetic, although his friends knew he was thinking hard about all this.

"We'll have to do _something_." Britain said eventually.

"Duh." Romania said.

"You two are hopeless." Norway scolded. "Romania, you're fast and nimble, go check on everyone, make sure they're all here and OK. Britain, you're the most knowledgeable in practical spells, try to find a way to restore the light."

"What about you?" Britain asked.

"I'm going to try to find the perpetrator behind all this. If any of us notices an abnormality, or needs help, they should give a shout, as sound seems to be one of the few senses that's effective in this darkness." Norway instructed. They all nodded, then parted ways.

Only then did they notice how silent it had gotten.

"Britain?"

"What, Norway?"

"Why did everyone just shut up all of a sudden?"

"... I don't know, and I don't like it. Even though it _is_ peaceful."

"Romania, you still there?"

"Yup. Everyone's here and accounted for, except-"

"Wait, you checked on _everyone_?" Britain asked incredulously. It was sort of weird talking to someone without actually seeing them...

"Uh-huh."

"But..." Norway said, "we've only been separated for about a minute, and it got quiet all of a sudden."

"Nah, it's been at least half an hour."

If they were anywhere near each other, they would have all exchanged worried looks.

"This may be for the worse, but I think I've figured out how to restore the light." Britain said.

"Do it. We'll deal with whatever comes _when_ it comes." Norway replied.

With a _snap_ and a sound that reminded them of rain, the lights flickered back on. The three magicians gasped.

Each country stood around the table, facing outwards. Each held a weapon in his or her hands, ready to fight. America held his pistols, Japan had his Katana. Russia had his pipe and China had his wok. Even Kumajiro looked threatening.

All the nations looked terribly confused. This was not what they had been doing before the lights returned, they were sure of that. And some things were amiss, too. Russia's scarf was tied around the door handle, Canada's glasses were irreparably cracked, Denmark's hair was flattened and countless other things were misplaced or broken.

What scared the three magic workers, however, was the fact that they(and only they) were standing on top of the table, facing outwards like everybody else. They were posed for battle as well. Judging by the way all the nations were standing, it looked like they were preparing themselves for an ambush, but they had no idea where the enemy would strike from.

They all lowered their assorted weapons, confused and, in most cases, terrified. A shout was heard from America.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, pulling back his sleeve and staring at his arm in terror. Britain hurried over, concerned.

"What is it?"

America, white-faced and shaking, turned so that Britain could examine his arm. To say it was injured was an understatement. America's limb was _mauled_, and whatever did the mauling did a fantastic job of it. The Englishman wasted no time in conjuring up bandages and Essence of Dittany, then began tending to the wound.

People were still very dazed, and _very_ bewildered. Norway was going about, trying to get the more freaked out nations to calm down. When he reached Denmark, who was clinging to his ax, Norway merely shook his head and moved on. The taller Scandinavian, however, did not like being ignored, so he followed Norway around the room.

No one really wanted to leave the room, for fear of being alone. No one said it, but they felt much safer in each others' company. Some huddled in groups, others just huddled in pairs. But the one thing they were all thinking was '_What just happened?_'

"You've lost a lot of blood." Britain said to America. "Don't do anything 'heroic' for a while."

"It's hard not to." America said, forcing a laugh. "But, if I've lost a lot of blood, where did it all go?"

"That's a very good question." said the shorter blond. He turned to Romania. "You got any idea?"

"Just because you all think I'm a vampire doesn't mean I really am." grumbled Romania.

"Geez, you three are being awfully calm about all this." America remarked. No one questioned who "you three" referred to.

"Freaking out would gain us nothing." Romania said, shrugging.

"Romania," Britain said, tying up the final bandage, "what were you going to tell me earlier? 'Everyone's here and accounted for, except'... except what?"

"I might have miscounted, but there was _someone_ missing. Not sure who."

Britain began a quick head count, taking special care not to miss that guy who looked a bit like America. Meanwhile, Norway walked over.

"Everyone else is uninjured, if a bit shaken. France fainted." he reported.

"Was anyone missing?" Romania asked.

Norway shrugged.

"Fellows, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but someone _is_ missing." Britain said. That caused quite a stir among the nations, as they bustled to find out which country, out of _all_ of them, was missing.

There was no need for the commotion, as two nations already knew.

Germany knew, and Romano knew. They knew the moment they _didn't_ get hugged out of relief from the lights coming back on. They knew the moment _no one_ was armed with a white flag.

"Veneziano." said Romano.

"Italy." said Germany. "_Italy_. Italy!"

_Everyone_ panicked. Had he left the room out of terror? Had he left to go complain about the power out? Had something... _gotten_ him?

It was _obviously_ the last option.

If it was chaos earlier, then it was certainly _madness_ now. Accusations were being thrown like baseballs. A few people were crying. The only ones who remained calm(though they weren't exactly at ease) were the magic trio, Russia, Sweden, a few of the Asian countries, America (who really had no choice because of his arm) and Germany. Though Germany wasn't exactly 'calm', per se, it was more like he was so distraught that he couldn't really do anything.

"What the hell did this?" America asked. Britain shook his head sadly, indicating that he had no fucking clue, either. The injured man sighed and pulled himself closer to his former caretaker, suddenly feeling the need for closeness.

"What the hell are we gonna _do_?" Denmark asked, as a continuation to America's question. He was given many helpless looks from the others, and a passive stare from Norway.

All of a sudden, Romano got to his feet, a knowing determination in his eyes. He looked scared, but he also looked like he knew something.

"I-"

_*Click!*_

-Extra-

That's how it started. We have yet to see how it will end, but we know what's coming next. The lights will go off, we'll spend some time confused and senseless, the lights will turn back on, we're all positioned for battle, we find someone injured and someone missing.

_It. Keeps. Happening._

Whatever it is, it has yet to take any of the injured people. I assume they'll either be spared, or taken last. All I can do is try to keep America safe for as long as possible. Romania's already gone and Norway is hurt. Denmark won't leave his side but he's probably won't be there for long. None of the wounded have died, but there's still time. The injuries keep getting worse and worse, and I fear what will come next.

We've tried the door. It won't open. We've tried breaking it down, but it's been strengthened with magic. Where we end up once taken, I don't know yet. But I'm not going down without a fight. Maybe I'll-

_*Click!*_


End file.
